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Please only answer this question if you fully understand the rules of transfiguration in HPMOR.

At the end of HPMOR, why didn't Harry transfigure multiple Sorcerer's Stones and use the original Stone to keep the transfigurations in place? The book states that only one stone was ever made due to the diffuculty of the process. And although unstated, although the rules of transfiguration in HPMOR state that merely envisioning the result is enough for transformation to take effect (no matter how complicated it is to make the object normally), it is understandable why no one else tried to transfigure an object into a Sorcerers Stone - because the transfiguration could not maintained forever and the elixir of life would be unsafe to consume.

But once Harry has the original stone, which can render transfigurations permanent, he should be able to transfigure multiple stones. So why doesn't he?

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    "Flamel" had the original Stone for CENTURIES, maybe "Flamel" tried and never succeeded? Maybe Harry, later in his long and busy life of world domi... er... optimization, will try and succeed - because he's so speshul, so scientific... and knows about the "infinite wishes loophole" in D&D :)
    – Teem Porary
    Commented Jun 12, 2018 at 19:01

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In HPMOR transfiguration requires the magic user to visualize the form and the substance. Harry Potter-Evans-Verre discovered partial transfiguration by realizing the subyacent reality of the world is quantum (gaining some freedom regarding the form part) but he still needs to visualize a substance known to him (nanotubes for example).

With that in mind there are 2 possible limitations to recreating the stone:

  1. He may not know the substance that makes the stone. If that is the case he may recreate it once he has enough time to study the original stone with an electronic microscope.

  2. The substance of the stone may not be so important. Let's put it this way if you have a horcrux in the form of a notebook, will transfiguring that notebook be enough to reproduce the magic of the horcrux? We don't know, maybe magical items don't rely on the configiration of the matter for magical effects. It's an interesting topic for experimentation.

I found a quote from HPMOR pointing this:

But Transfiguration, at least the kind they could do, didn’t enchant the targets - it wouldn’t Transfigure a regular broomstick into a flying one.

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    Yes, to the best of my recollection, there was no indication in either HPMOR or in the original canon that transfiguration could be used to create magical items. You could create a stone, but you'd still have to enchant it to make it into a Philosopher's Stone, and nobody knows how to do that any more.
    – Harry Johnston
    Commented Jun 13, 2018 at 0:10
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    Ram - Well Reasoned. @HarryJohnston if you expand that, that might be a good answer.
    – TheAsh
    Commented Jun 13, 2018 at 18:11
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One of the physical limits of transfiguration is that it can't enchant the objects it creates. It could create a physical replica of the Stone, but not recreate the magical properties.

Also, if you think the Stone creates elixir of life, you're totally misunderstanding the text. People made up the elixir to explain how the Stone allowed its wielders to stay young and heal from things (a classic "mysterious answer to mysterious questions"). What actually was happening was that the holders of the Stone used free transfiguration on their own bodies to make themselves young and healthy, and then prevented transfiguration sickness using the Stone.

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  • Hi, welcome to SF&F. The first part of your answer just repeats the previous answer, but without the supporting quote. The second part doesn't seem to answer the question, and doesn't really belong in this answer. Please only post new answers if you have substantial new information to add. You might want to take the tour.
    – DavidW
    Commented Dec 21, 2021 at 21:24
  • The second part is quite important to the answer as it reinforces the inability to transfigure magical materials. An elixir of life would be a magical material, it is important to note that no such substance is created by the stone, it's a way of disguising the rejuvenating transfiguration that is actually taking place.
    – Jontia
    Commented Feb 8, 2022 at 14:53

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